Mariners Soar! After School Program at Deer Isle-Stonington Elementary School

2023 DOWNHILL 24 OUTDOOR FUND GRANTEE

Town: Deer Isle
County: Hancock County
Grant funds distributed: $5,000
Children impacted: 100

Mariners Soar! used the Downhill 24 funds to purchase repair tools and a storage shed for our school’s new mountain bikes, which are used by every DISES middle schooler, as well as students in grades 3 and up in the after school program at all of our sites- Deer Isle, Sedgwick, and Brooklin- at least once a week from September-December and March-June.

The funds also allowed us to pay for a school bus to transport 32 after school program students- most of whom had never skied before- to the Winter Kids sponsored “free ski” day at Big Rock Mountain in Mars Hill. The Downhill 24 grant money was crucial to us being able to attend.

The remaining funds will be used this Spring (as soon as the rain stops) to repair the outdoor climbing wall on our school’s campus and purchase new ropes and harnesses. The climbing wall will be used by all all grades at all of our after school program sites, where they will be able to transfer the skills they have been developing on our indoor bouldering wall.

Living in a rural island community, there are few safe, accessible, public outdoor spaces for our students to spend time. The Winter Kids Downhill 24 grant has helped us to build permanent and sustainable infrastructure on our school campus to support our students being active outdoors both during and after school hours, as well as give our students access to other outdoors spaces and activities in the state of Maine.